What Makes A Neighborhood Queer?

As the cliche goes, to make a queer village, it takes more than just a clutch of GLBT residents and businesses. In other words, there’s a world of difference between a neighborhood where you can comfortably embrace your off-the-gender-charts lover and having a shop on every block where you can buy rainbow toilet paper.

If queer neighborhoods mean more to you than a preponderance of Pride flags, make some noise on Tuesday night, when the GLBT Historical Society and Castro Coalition are holding the third roundtable in their series, Queer in the City: GLBT Neighborhoods and Urban Planning, with guests:

*Dawn Philips, an East Bay activist for people of color and housing rights who helped lead a fight against gay gentrification in Oakland.

* Don Reuter an independent scholar developing a book on the rise and imperilment of U.S. gay neighborhoods.

*Leading feminist scholar and University of Michigan anthropology professor Gayle Rubin discussing the South of Market area as an alternate view of queer neighborhood.

*University of Chicago doctoral candidate Tim Stewart-Winter describing the historical transformation of the Castro and the GLBT community.

And if you miss it, hopefully this one will get vlogged, as well — a collection of videos from their last roundtable, “Are Queer Neighborhoods Worth Saving?” (this is rhetorical, yes) are all up on the GoogTube.